VNU buying BPI for $220 million p. 16

By: Editorial Staff DUTCH MEDIA CONGLOMERATE VNU has agreed to pay $220 million for BPI Communications L.P. BPI's holdings include Billboard magazine, the Hollywood Reporter, BPI Entertainment News Wire, and the advertising trade magazine, Adweek.
The sellers are investment group Boston Ventures, BPI management and New York Times Co., which acquired the Boston Globe and one-third of BPI when it spent $1 billion last year for Affiliated Publications Inc. BPI, with $130 million in annual revenues and 800 employees in 19 offices, runs 17 magazines, 20 directories and specialty book publisher Watson-Guptill.
VNU (Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeversbedrijven B.V.), the Netherlands' biggest mass-circulation publisher, employs more than 6,000 people worldwide and generates more than $1.5 billion a year in revenue. Its U.S. operations ? including Competitive Media Reporting, which measures ad spending ? employ 1,500 people and generate 12% of the company's revenues.
Times said it would net about $55 million when the deal closes, before March 31, but the transaction would not affect its financial reporting.